Sewing used to be a source of trauma for Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, who was forced to stitch military and police uniforms while in a Russian penal colony. (Tolokonnikova was imprisoned in Russia for two years after being convicted for hooliganism in 2012, following the group’s infamous performance in a Moscow cathedral earlier that year.) But she decided to reclaim the activity when she sewed Adidas stripes onto her now-husband John Caldwell’s suit jacket, for their wedding on January 12. “Now I feel like I can sew again without being necessarily connected to the traumatic experience,” she says. “It broke the chain of trauma.”
The two wed in a gopnik-themed ceremony in a friend’s backyard in Los Angeles. Gopnik, Tolokonnikova explains over Zoom, is a name for a “delinquent, criminal culture” native to Russia, whose unofficial uniform has become Adidas tracksuits (which all the guests wore). While the name is somewhat derogatory, she wears it with pride; with the two-year stint in prison behind her and multiple open cases in Russia, she considers herself a “proud criminal.”
Enamored with punk culture, she initially entertained the idea of wearing Vivienne Westwood, the godmother of punk. (Her dear friend Marina Abramović, “who might be the most connected person in the world,” even put her in touch with someone at the brand.) But in the end she decided to stick to the punk ethos of doing it herself. “I realized that Vivienne would probably want me to create my own dress rather than just borrowing a dress from her,” she says.
So, Tolokonnikova took to Depop to source her wedding look. After friends sent her white Adidas dresses, she ended up in a white Adidas tank top and a satin maxi skirt with lace trim, over which she layered the bones of a hoop skirt, lined with ruffles. She also applied her DIY skills to her veil, to which she added a white plushie teddy bear and pearls.
Still, she wanted to create contrast between the “cute” side of her personality with the “gopnik” side. Tolokonnikova, who is vegan, juxtaposed her sweet look with an oversized black faux-leather Adidas jacket, which she purchased in London while in town for Abramović’s exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. She also wore a pair of velvet Doc Martens, though she changed into slides from—you guessed it—Adidas during the party. (“I think it’s the sexiest thing ever: a long lace white skirt with dark combat boots and platforms,” she says.) And while a purse may not be typical of a wedding look, she carried a black shoulder bag inscribed with the words “My Pussy My Riot” in red, from her friend Michele Pred.
Tolokonnikova also included the Orthodox cross in her ceremony: on a necklace, garter belt, and even the vegan Napoleon cake covered in black icing, which she baked herself. “I’m almost trying to steal [the symbol] from the Orthodox Christianity, honestly, because they stole two years of my life,” she says. “I was accused—besides going against Putin—of religious hatred, which I didn’t have. But they still accused me of it. So I was like, Well, I’m just going to be using your symbol and reclaim it as my own.” She and Caldwell were married by Father Nathan Monk, who was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox church for his support of the LGBTQ+ community, underneath a giant neon Orthodox cross that Tolokonnikova used as a prop in Pussy Riot and Slayyyter’s music video “HATEFUCK.”
While the DIY wedding was a labor of love—from the Cobrasnake’s photography to IC3PEAK’s performance—Tolokonnikova credits one special person with helping her wedding come together, from her outfit to the playlist: her 15-year-old daughter, Gera Riot. “She’s my fashion advisor,” she says proudly.
